AN: So this was a fun chapter to write up. Thanks to 2theSky (Love your avatar by the way, so cute!) and PrincessKai317 for reviewing! You guys are amazing!

Chapter Seven

Stark Tower

Something tapped on Mira's shoulder, and she tried pushing them away. The tap was harder this time. Mira blinked open her eyes when she caught the finger that was tapping her. Her eyes widened when she saw Beck grinning at her like an idiot.

"You kind of fell asleep," he explained when she glared back at him.

"What? When?" Mira felt her heart nearly skip a beat when she realized that they on the move. Clint and Natasha were up front, driving what appeared to be something similar to a light jet. The view outside told her that they were still high above ground.

"A couple of hours ago, give or take," Clint replied over his shoulder. "You've got good reflexes by the way," he added after she forced back a yawn.

"Being on the Grid can do that to you," she muttered crossly.

"Yeah, last time you did that you nearly derezzed me," Beck added in a slight chagrin. Mira smirked and punched him in the arm lightly for that remark.

"So are you two like a couple or something?" Clint's question caught them both off guard. Heat rose to Mira's cheek while Beck shifted away from her uncomfortably.

"Of course not." Clint looked like he was ready to burst out in laughter when they said that at the same time.

Embarrassment washed over Mira, and she took it upon herself to look out the small window beside her. It wasn't exactly something they talked about on a regular basis. On the Grid they only had a few chances to hang out together.

And we still had the curfew to worry about than, she thought bitterly. Here in the User world, it seemed as though there was no curfew.

"We're almost there," Natasha announced after an awkward silence filled the small space.

Mira peered outside the window and saw a massive looking building loom ahead. Just under what looked like a parking deck were large letters with the word, Stark. Again the name sounded familiar, and Mira suddenly wished she remembered why.

In a matter of nanocycles they made a safe, if not bumpy, landing on the parking deck. Mira quickly stood up and followed them outside.

Almost at once wind blasted past them once they headed for the door. Down below Mira could see countless vehicles passing the large structure. All around them were buildings that seemed dwarfed by the tower.

"Where are we?" Beck asked when the door slid open.

"Did you give them a memory drug before getting here?" Mira jumped when someone stepped out to greet them.

Now she suddenly remembered why the name Stark sounded so familiar. She had seen him from somewhere.

Part of her User memories involved meeting him long before she had disappeared on the Grid. Now he looked slightly different, but his appearance hadn't changed much since she last saw him. He had well kept, dark brown hair along with a nicely trimmed beard. For the most part, he looked like any other User.

"They're not from around here," Natasha explained when Beck glared at him in response.

"The suits are kind of a dead giveaway," he scoffed. "Now Fury told me that you'd be coming. I wanna know why you need my tech for whatever mission it is you're going on."

"You might wanna sit down for this one," Clint told him after ruffling the back of his hair.

His eyes widened with disbelief when they explained what had happened, and where Mira and Beck had come from. Nanocycles seemed to pass before he finally took it all in once they were inside the building. For a moment Mira was afraid he might just think that they were lying.

"Kind of makes sense actually," he said after an awkward silence filled the large space.

The room was strangely comfortable looking compared to the HQ building they had been in earlier. Mira found herself trying to take in everything at once. Seats were laid out in the center of the room. Just behind the seats was a bar.

"How big of a problem are these Portals?" Natasha broke Mira from her thoughts. She finally glanced at Beck, who seemed just as awestruck by the room's elegant appearance.

"Let's just say that if Clu found his way through, it wouldn't be a pretty ending," he finally replied.

"Okay, I'm lost," Stark's shoulders sagged in annoyance. "Who's Clu?"

"The ruler of the Grid," Mira explained warily. "He's a tyrant who believes that only through perfection will there ever be freedom."

Bitter memories of seeing Clu's face suddenly crossed her thoughts. All of this had happened because of Clu. From Cyrus betraying Tron to Tron getting repurposed. She suddenly found herself hating Clu now more than ever.

"Well that just about clarifies everything," Stark muttered crossly. "We do have a computer that might just be strong enough. I've actually been working on something similar to the... Grid."

"You can't possibly be serious," Clint scoffed as he began leading the way.

"Hey, I had a lot of time on my hands," he replied over his shoulder. "After reading all the stories on what Flynn was up to, I couldn't resist."

Mira bit the bottom of her lip when she realized just how popular Flynn's theories had been. How many others had tried creating a place like the Grid? If it were even possible, they might have suffered the same fate as Flynn.

Soon they were led down a flight of stairs, to another part of the building. The walls were well built. Mira noticed a few tiny dents within them, and she wondered what could have possibly caused such damage.

"This is where I do most of my experiments," Stark explained after typing in a series of codes. The door slid open shortly after, revealing a much larger room. "Be amazed, not too many people get to see this room." The smugness in his voice made Mira wish she could slap him.

"Did you build all of this?" Beck sounded impressed when he followed the rest of them inside.

"Most of it," Stark replied. "The suits are kind of my thing. I guess you could call me the mechanic."

"Please tell me you still have that tool Bodhi made?" Mira whispered after realizing how much they could do with such a device. Manipulating the code in these objects might actually prove useful in the future.

"I always keep it with me," he replied with a smirk.

Stark's eyes widened when Beck grabbed the tool. Mira guessed that he had never seen such a device in the User world.

"Here's the super computer." A massive looking computer was placed in the back of the room. Mira raised an eyebrow when she noticed how similar it was to the computer in Tron's safehouse. "So what kind of device is that?" he asked when they reached it.

"My friend designed it back when we were on the Grid," Beck explained. "It's a device that allows me to modify the code of any object."

Please let it work, Mira thought as he placed it on the keyboard. Her shoulders sagged in relief when a holographic image of codes appeared. Beck's smirk told her that he knew exactly what to do. This computer really was almost an exact replica of the one Tron had in the safehouse.

The three Users took a startled step back as Beck went to work modifying the code. Mira held her breath as she waited for any sign of the Grid to appear. Nanocycles seemed to pass before the screen in front of them suddenly went blank. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when an image of the Grid suddenly flickered on.

"That's it," Beck whispered after standing up.

"Home," Mira added under her breath. She almost missed the calming shades of blue and green lights that once surrounded Argon City. "The Portals are opening up throughout the Outlands and parts of Argon," she said after noticing the bright lights illuminating in the Outlands.

Beck sifted through the images until they reached the Outlands. His eyes widened in alarm when he realized that she was right. There were more Portals opening up than ever. Mira was amazed that Clu hadn't noticed them yet. If he was as smart as he claimed, he would have looked at the memories on Tron's disk.

"That's the Grid?" Clint sounded dumbstruck as Beck typed in a few more codes.

"No, that's the Outlands," Mira explained. "The Grid is much larger than this. Think we can close the Portals from here?" She glanced at Beck as he looked at the screen in what she guessed was frustration.

"The last time you used your disk to close the Portal," Beck murmured after frowning.

Mira held back a sigh of frustration when she realized that he was right. She had noticed the moment they were back they didn't have their identity disks. Yet one more thing to worry about being in the User world.

"Let me try something," she whispered.

She took a deep breath before placing her hand on the code modifier. Almost at once memories of everything she had done on the Grid came back. She didn't even notice that the images were playing on the screen itself.

From her first encounter with Rinzler, to meeting Cutler and Quorra for the first time. Than running away from the cities that were being occupied by Clu's generals. Than came the memories of meeting Beck and Tron for the first time. Her hands were trembling by the time the memories suddenly stopped.

"What the hell was that?" Mira pulled back when she realized what had happened. She didn't even know who had asked the question, but at this point she didn't care.

"They closed." Beck sounded more concerned than relieved. "How exactly did that happen?" he added a bit more cautiously.

"Somehow that device tapped into your memories," Stark replied. "From what I've just seen... that's pretty impressive."

"So Cyrus tried killing you more than once," Natasha added when an uneasy silence filled the room.

"Like I said, he's a sociopath," Mira said with a shrug. Her voice was still shaken by the events that just unfolded. When she finally opened her eyes she noticed that everyone was staring at both her and Beck in disbelief. "Now we need to find a way to stop him."

"I think we should all get some rest." Mira stiffened when Stark said that. No one seemed to protest as Beck pulled out the code modifier. "After what happened today, we'll need it."

At this point Mira didn't bother arguing. Part of her was relieved they were giving her some space to recover from the incident. She wasn't even sure how it had happened. But one thing was certain, she didn't want it to happen again.

. . .

It was late by the time they were led to their rooms. Natasha felt her shoulders sag in relief as she followed the others to the living space. After everything that had happened, she had a feeling those two would have a difficult time sleeping.

"Need a drink?" Natasha raised an eyebrow when she spotted Tony standing behind the bar. He was pouring two glasses of whiskey. One for him and another for Clint, who was sitting on one of the stools nearby.

"You owe me ten bucks," she announced after reaching them. Clint scowled at her before passing the money. "Director Fury already knew about the Grid before Flynn disappeared," she added when she grabbed a glass for herself.

"So basically what you're saying is, he didn't see it as a threat," Tony replied.

Natasha shrugged in response. "It wasn't important at the time," she explained. "We had more... important issues at hand."

She was still unnerved by what had happened to SHIELD's newest interest. The girl had endured that much torture and could still speak to strangers like that. Something like that didn't happen to humans too often.

"So what now?" Clint asked after finishing his drink.

"We find out what they're really up to," Natasha replied.

They're obviously hiding something, she added silently. And I want to find out what it is they're hiding.

AN: So yep. A lot of happenings here. Hopefully this wasn't too rushed, but for some reason I feel like it was. Anywho, please let me know what you thought of this in a review!

End of Line